Prior to Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections, Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Ambassador C. Ross Wilson hinted at their support for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and now President Abdullah Gul and dismissed the Turkish military’s warning that democracy and secularism were threatened by creeping Islamism and a consolidation of powers at the expense of their balance. The State Department and many journalists dismissed concerns about AKP attempts to alter the system or muzzle criticism as somehow anti-democratic or pro-military. U.S. commentators preferred to criticize the critics without exploring what was occurring in Turkey. Now we see the result of Rice’s policy:

It’s hard to focus on Turkey with all that’s going on in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Gaza. As Rice’s celebrity fades and people look at her decisions and actions, fumbling Turkey will occupy a major place in her legacy.